India vs England 2016: Virat Kohli claims 2014 tour of England was a setback in his career

While the Indian cricket team were busy preparing for their first Test against England in Rajkot tomorrow, skipper Virat Kohli took his time off to attend the press conference on Tuesday. The right-hand batsman addressed the media regarding various issues surrounding the series and even went on to admit his modest batting record against the English team.

The skipper went on to state that the tour to England back in 2014 was a defining moment in his career as he got an opportunity to realise what he needed to improve in his batting. "I can put it very simply as that was the phase when I didn’t perform too well and it happened to be England and could have been any other country in the world," Kohli told reporters on Tuesday.

Kohli, who averages 45.56 in Tests overall has struggled to score against English bowlers in the past. He averages just 20 in the 17 innings that he has played against England. In the five-match Test series against England in 2014, he scored a total of 134 runs at an average of 13.4, which is by far his worst Test series in terms of average. The batsman had a miserable outing against the Three Lions with a high score of 39 in that series.

"I just take it as a setback in my career, and not motivate myself in a way that I have to prove people wrong or I have to do something special against a particular opposition," he said.

Upon his return home, Kohli concentrated on managing this weakness. He had few sessions with Sachin Tendulkar at the Wankhede Stadium to assess flaws in his game and the batsman has turned out to be pretty impressive ever since that series. He has scored around 1700 runs in 31 Test innings at an average slightly above 53.

Speaking about his emergence since the England tour, Kohli said that the series was a turing point in his career and made him a better player. He also went on to add that the failure in the England tour nwas a learning curve for him. He said, "It made me realise what I need to improve in my game so I am pretty thankful to England for that. I have been a really improved cricketer from then on."

The 28-year old went on to add that he was no longer thinking about his past experience and was looking forward to the upcoming Test series to prove his mettle. “For me, I'm playing a cricket ball, be it any game, any opposition, anywhere in the world. Those things do not change for me so I don't put those things in my head," he stated.